The Studio Executive Who Tried (And Failed) To Play Himself On Seinfeld

"Seinfeld" wouldn't be what it is today without Jeremiah Bosgang. Along with former network Vice President Rick Ludwin, who was in charge of NBC's TV specials slate in 1990, network liaison Bosgang oversaw the development of the hit sitcom's earliest seasons. 

According to Jennifer Keishin Armstrong's book "Seinfeldia," Ludwin finagled a short first season for "Seinfeld" after its pilot aired in 1989. Bosgang, meanwhile, was a Second City-trained writer-producer who was green at NBC at the time. During the show's nascent years, he was tasked with unenviable jobs like reporting back to NBC about the quality of each "Seinfeld" script, or trying to figure out how to talk creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David out of going through with "The Chinese Restaurant" — a now-beloved early episode that showed just how experimental the show's structure could get.

By the time the show's fourth season rolled around, Bosgang had moved on to Fox, and "Seinfeld" had long-since earned its confidence with labyrinthine comedic plots and screamingly funny performances. The show's structure got even more experimental at this point, with much of season 4 taken up by a meta plotline in which Jerry (Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) attempt to sell a "Seinfeld"-like pilot to NBC. In the process, the show's creators began mining their own experiences making a TV show for jokes — and Bosgang found himself caught in their comedic crosshairs.

As Bosgang told Armstrong, he got an unusual phone call as the fourth season of "Seinfeld" was entering development. "I just got out of the strangest audition," he recalled a friend telling him. "I was auditioning for a role where the character's name is Jeremiah Bosgang, over at 'Seinfeld.' A young network executive."

Bosgang wasn't the first person whose name was borrowed for "Seinfeld." The character of "Crazy" Joe Davola took his name from another TV producer, and comedian Kenny Kramer, often referenced as the inspiration for the show's own Cosmo Kramer, once sued a writer for the show who discussed his "Seinfeld"-related New York tours in a memoir (per The Hollywood Reporter). Bosgang was also surprised by the news of his fictional counterpart's existence, but he decided to do the most Seinfeldian thing possible in response to this surreal moment: get in on the action.

The producer called "Seinfeld" producer George Shapiro, who was also Seinfeld's longtime manager. "George, wait a minute. How about this? Jeremiah Bosgang as himself!" Bosgang recalled telling his former colleague in "Seinfeldia." He was confident about his take on the character, declaring, "I can do this." Shapiro consulted with David and Seinfeld, who said they were happy to see Bosgang read for the role — if he could make it to the studio by the time auditions wrapped in an hour.

Setting aside his surprise that he'd even be asked to audition to play himself, Bosgang booked it to the studio, where he quickly started to confuse people by sharing a name with the character he was trying out for. When a receptionist asked his name and he gave it, he recalls her saying, "No, not the character's name." He was certain the administrator and the other actors in the waiting area thought he was doing some weird Method performance for a small part, or, as he later told the hosts of "This Podcast is Making Me Thirsty," was a "douchebag" and an "a**hole." Bosgang auditioned with multiple readings of just one line ("That's right!") and went home certain he got the part. Hilariously, though, after he never got a call about scheduling, Bosgang found out he'd been passed over for the role .

"Jerry said he was going to call you," Shapiro told Bosgang when he (rather presumptuously) called to ask about what he should wear and where he should arrive for the episode shoot. He broke the bad news: "They decided to go in a different direction with the Jeremiah Bosgang character." In a plot twist that itself could be a "Seinfeld" episode, Jeremiah Bosgang didn't get the part of Jeremiah Bosgang. The show's writers, at least, had a good reason for the rejection. They ended up changing the names of the NBC execs for the show to avoid slandering real-life figures when they got put in the bizarre comedic situations the show was known for. Bosgang has happily talked about the whole fiasco over the years, though on the aforementioned podcast he does say he's still unsure whether or not Seinfeld and David were "f**king with" him when they made him reread his sole line several times with different inflections and emotions.

At any rate, Bosgang became Jay Crespi, and ended up being played by Peter Blood for five episodes including the series finale. Interestingly, this was the only credited screen role Blood ever took. Bosgang, meanwhile, contributed briefly to "Saturday Night Live" and went on to write for "In Living Color." It's probably a good thing he wasn't picked for the role, both because he wasn't an actor (though according to some fans on Reddit, Blood wasn't great either), and because "Seinfeld" always positioned itself in playful opposition to authority figures like network execs. To let one in on the joke on screen feels antithetical to the show's ethos. Plus, "Seinfeld" often simply got less funny when people played themselves.

The real story of Bosgang's near-miss remains funny as hell, though, partly because it features a coda worthy of a cut-to-credits scene on the sitcom. According to Cracked, Bosgang actually ran into Seinfeld years later and brought up the meta part he missed out on. Seinfeld's response was classic: "You just weren't Jeremiah Bosgang enough."